Seriously, just knock her out! Your other option is for this to turn into a battle to see who is better at manipulating Lucy, and then you really would have to become more like Emerald.

cease
just gag her then
holy fuck

If we really do have Leadership powers, maybe we can use them on Emerald to give her an intervention or impromptu therapy session?

Start out by asking Emerald some questions, something like "Why all of this?" and "Why do you think everyone is your enemy?". Is she trying to prove something?

If we can find out what her real issues are, it should at least give us a better scope on how to deal with her.

>>713586
She is a scholar and a manipulator, her brain is her most powerful asset. If you keep letting her use it she's going to find a way to take advantage of it. Do not forget that she has the blood of many a hapless wanderer like yourself on her hands, their souls will not rest until she is brought to justice.You would have to be helplessly naiive or downright stupid to believe that she would not kill you gleefully if given the chance, and make no mistake, by leaving her conscious you are giving her a chance. You must ask yourself this; who is worse, the murderer, or the fool that lets her get away with it.

>>713557
Okay what the hell Emerald, why are you crying now? I think we really need to get the rest of her backstory.

>>713597
as the only sane option noted so far, I vote this.
murder is a LAST resort.

JiggyDino 2016/04/03(Sun)15:59 No. 713650 ID: b66b01
File 145972435931.gif - (20.50KB , 800x600 , 189.gif )

>Seriously, just knock her out!
>just gag her then

I still have thoughts about shutting her up physically. But part of me also want to ask her things. I can't really ask questions to an unconscious person...

>Start out by asking Emerald some questions, something like "Why all of this?" and "Why do you think everyone is your enemy?". Is she trying to prove something?

Rip starts to move away from me. He seems to be doing better and probably and rightfully thinks we can handle the stairs better apart than holding onto each other.

Raven: "Emerald, why do you want to do all this? Why do you think everyone is against you?"

Emerald: "*sniff* Are you serious? Every one here is against me! I don't think that everyone is against me, I know so!"

Raven: "We acted against you because of the things you were trying to do to us. If you were nicer, we would be nicer to you too!"

Emerald: "I w-were nice to you when we first met! You threw a bowl at me!"

Raven: "You gave me some pretty convincing hints that you were planning something! Lucy vouched for my guts, and you then confirmed it when you came back to!"

Emerald: "..."

Raven: "Just tell us."

Emerald: "... *sob*"

Lucy: "... Do you think you have much to lose, witch? You might as well tell us."

JiggyDino 2016/04/03(Sun)15:59 No. 713651 ID: b66b01
File 145972436427.gif - (16.89KB , 800x600 , 190.gif )

Emerald: "Raaagh! When I was younger, I was learning magic and not only did people didn't want to be my friend, they went out of their ways to kick me when I was down! Everyone turned their backs on me and criticized anything I wanted to do with magic. I knew no one would ever like anything I ever do so I decided to do anything and everything! That's it! Happy?"

Ask Emerald what kind of stuff she was trying to do with magic back then. Say that you won't make fun of or judge her for it. (That is, as long as it doesn't involve hurting people.)

>>713651
That's it? She was going to destroy the world out of spite? Tell Emerald you're sorry for her rough upbringing but she's got problems. What kind of magic was she learning back then, anyway? We've seen her use telekinesis.

You know, I can think of one merciful fate for her. Weaken her magic permanently somehow and Lucy can be her caretaker. Maybe by keeping her tied up or in manacles or, at the extreme, cutting off her hands? She can't be allowed to kidnap, murder and torture people anymore, and I doubt she can be reformed enough to be trusted with freedom.

>>713651
"That sounds pretty messed up, I'm sorry you had to go through that as a kid.
...I meant what I said earlier though, you really aren't that bad when you're not plotting people's deaths."

Point out that if you were entirely against Emerald you could have killed by now and that probably would have been safer. Say that you would rather not kill her, but right now you don't know if she would attack you again or go back to trying to kill everyone with demons.

Great, so she has a Freudian Excuse, how lovely. I still don't think this changes anything. Hell, even if she really is rehabilitatable she's still a serial killer, any just court would give her the death penalty or at least life imprisonment. We really should shut her up before she gets into Lucy's head.

JiggyDino 2016/04/06(Wed)15:29 No. 714274 ID: b66b01
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Rip: "T-That's it?

>Dialogues

Raven: "That sounds pretty messed up, I'm sorry you had to go through that as a kid. But you got a problem... For what it's worth, I meant what I said earlier, you really aren't that bad when you're not plotting people's deaths."

Emerald: "mrh..."

>Point out that if you were entirely against Emerald you could have killed by now and that probably would have been safer. Say that you would rather not kill her, but right now you don't know if she would attack you again or go back to trying to kill everyone with demons.

Raven: "I'm not entirely against you Emerald. I could have killed you by now and it would have been the safer route. But I would rather not kill you. Although, I don't know if you'll attack me again or go back to summoning demons to kill everyone..."

Emerald: "... I'm sick of everyone having such a good time with each others. I never had that growing up or ever in my life. And for what reason? Because I was spawned? I've been nice and it doesn't work."

>Ask Emerald what kind of stuff she was trying to do with magic back then. Say that you won't make fun of or judge her for it. (That is, as long as it doesn't involve hurting people.)

Raven: "What kind of stuff were you doing with magic back then? I won't make fun of you or judge you for it as long as it didn't involve hurting anyone."

Emerald: "I don't know! It's been forever! Nothing ambitious compared to what I've done once I started real experiments. They were still too out of the box thinking type magic for the schools I guess..."

>What kind of magic was she learning back then, anyway? We've seen her use telekinesis.

Raven: "What kind of magic were you learning? I know you have telekinesis and you can make those solid objects with different properties."

Emerald frowns.

Emerald: "... I was trying to learn everything. Obviously I was better at certain things than others... Why do you care?"

>>714274
>why do you care?
Curious, and a little concerned about what she can do that we haven't seen. Looks like she needs her hands free to cast anything, though.

...is there any way to make someone immune to her magic? Or a way for her to give up her magic, irreversibly? Like via some kind of magically-binding contract?

>Why do you care?
Hey, someone has to care, right? (statistically at least)
Anyways, trying to learn everything? That sounds like a pretty tall order. What with no one wanting wanting to give her the time of day, It must have been tough huh?

>>714282
A Curse or a Binding might work, but we would probably have to hit up Emeralds research lab and maybe hope Raven is a secret magic genius.
But for now I think if we are still trying to help Lucy with her Life Debt conundrum there are a couple direct solutions.
1: Continue to talk Emerald down to a point where she no longer wants to murder everyone with demons and/or continue to do bad things.
2: Remove the demon portal from the equation by sealing the chamber in anyway way possible, like collapsing/exploding the mountain or something.

I'm just curious about you, I want to know how you managed to fall to this level.

We need to fish for as much information as we can without tipping her off to what we're doing. Right now I think we might be able to get away with cutting off her hands and keeping her under loose supervision, but if she can cast with her legs or something that won't be an option. We might be able to rehabilitate her, we'll have to probe more, but I think it's unlikely, and letting her go unpunished doesn't sit right with me. I still think a just execution is the right course of action, but it's apparent that I'm in the minority, so I'll just advise us to be very cautious.

JiggyDino 2016/04/07(Thu)16:10 No. 714569 ID: b66b01
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>...is there any way to make someone immune to her magic? Or a way for her to give up her magic, irreversibly? Like via some kind of magically-binding contract?

I would imagine so. Otherwise, how else would you put a magic user in prison? Well unless they do what we did and bind them.

>Curious
>Hey, someone has to care, right? (statistically at least)
>I'm just curious about you, I want to know how you managed to fall to this level.

Raven: "Just curious. You had to have gotten the way you are from somewhere right?"

Emerald: "..."

>Dialogue

Raven: "Anyways, trying to learn everything? That sounds like a pretty tall order. What with no one wanting to give you the time of day, it must have been tough huh?"

Tears starts to run down Emerald's cheeks again as she seems to try and hold herself from crying again. Eventually gasping into quiet sobs once she starts breathing again. Whoops, I think I've opened up a wound...

Lucy sighs

Lucy: "So, huh. I'm gonna need help to navigate the desert. I mean, If you think you can point me in the right direction, that's all you need to do. Maybe I could get to a city and turn her in so they could handle her imprisonment?"

Emerald: "OOooohhhhhhhh..."

Rip: "I could guide you. I leave anyway..."

>>714569
Good plan, if Rip knows the way we can make our way back to civilization. Maybe she can even get some mental help while in prison. Rehabilitation. Tell Emerald you hope she turns a new leaf. Maybe you'll meet again someday under better circumstances.

...I suppose we'll want to report the existence of the demon gate to an organization that can seal it away?

Are there any institutions for the magically criminally insane? Given medieval attitudes towards these sorts of things, it might be better if we handled her rehabilitation ourselves, but we simply don't have the resources necessary to contain her. I guess we'll just have to hope that the current level of psychological knowledge can fix her, if she's even fixable at all.

>How to imprison a magic person
Why, with the powers of a stronger magic person.

>>714569
Suggest we travel together for a bit. Ask Rip if he has anywhere to be, if not we have the makings of a full adventurer's party here.

Rogue, warrior, mage, and bard (us)

It occurs to me that Lucy will probably be thrown in jail too due to several counts of accessory to murder. If we tell her that, she might run away, leaving us to drag Emerald to town, which would be pretty inconvenient.
On the other hand we could just make sure she helps us get Emerald to town then she can leave before turning Emerald in, so that she's not there when charges are filed.
On the other other hand we could tell her nothing, and turn her in alongside Emerald once we have guards present, ensuring she goes to jail. Then she could protect Emerald from other prisoners, I guess, giving her a chance to repay her lifedebt.

To decide, we should ask Lucy if she still wants to repay Emerald for saving her life.

>>714614
Honestly, everyone here except Raven probably deserves jail time, but there's nothing we can do about that.

hey man

we dont know raven's story just yet

sinner squad might be an option

>reminisce about personal history as the headrush of saving the world suddenly hits you all at once

JiggyDino 2016/04/08(Fri)15:29 No. 714819 ID: b66b01
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>Are there any institutions for the magically criminally insane?
>Good plan, if Rip knows the way we can make our way back to civilization. Maybe she can even get some mental help while in prison.
>It occurs to me that Lucy will probably be thrown in jail too due to several counts of accessory to murder.
>Honestly, everyone here except Raven probably deserves jail time

Actually... now that I think about it, I'm not sure if any jails would actually take Emerald. It sounds like she's done some horrible things, but she did it all in this desert as far as I know. Villages, Tribes and Kingdoms handle their own justice. Since this desert isn't near any civilization, save for some outskirts, the only people that would get to her is any families or friends her victim would have... Assuming they could even know what happened to their loved ones then find Emerald.

Rip would only be considered a criminal if he wronged the people of certain places. Since he's an adventurer, any wrong doing he might have done could have very well been done outside of civilization and to worst people than him. He has prejudice toward certain people, but I haven't seen him rob or murder an innocent person yet... Although I'll admit that attacking Emerald on a hunch was a bit rash, I also threw a bowl at her...

Lucy has done things... But as far as civilization is concerned, she's off the hook... Well, outside her tribe at least...

Also, I can navigate a little bit, I am an adventurer too! Rip isn't the only one that can get us out of this desert!

>reminisce about personal history as the headrush of saving the world suddenly hits you all at once

[OVERRIDE]

While not having direct control, Raven feels like her past is malleable.

>Suggest we travel together for a bit. Ask Rip if he has anywhere to be, if not we have the makings of a full adventurer's party here. Rogue, warrior, mage, and bard (us)

I'll have to find an instrument to accompany my beautiful caws!

As for leaving, I'm for it. If we're done here. We'll have to make sure everyone has enough water to drink, which should be easy with the water source under the mountain, food to eat and it's best if we rest a bit before leaving.

Rip: "I open the door. Your hands are full."

Lucy: "Ah, thanks. The door might be a bit tough to open."

>>714819
If no jails will take her, how will we keep her from escaping justice? Keeping her tied up isn't a permanent solution as she will eventually wiggle out of the restraints. Plus, if she's tied up at all times someone has to tend to her every need.

>If no jails will take her, how will we keep her from escaping justice? Keeping her tied up isn't a permanent solution as she will eventually wiggle out of the restraints.
I'm suddenly wondering if you can keep a mage as a slave.

>>714819
So our only real recourse here is to either kill her (which doesn't feel good) or attempting to rehab the evil wizard, which sounds like a fun time.

I vote the latter.

"What jail would take her? This isn't exactly claimed territory, and I do still feel pretty bad for her in spite of everything. Hm.

...anyone want to form an adventuring party?"

JiggyDino 2016/04/09(Sat)13:53 No. 715232 ID: b66b01
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>If no jails will take her, how will we keep her from escaping justice?
>So our only real recourse here is to either kill her (which doesn't feel good) or attempting to rehab the evil wizard, which sounds like a fun time

Fun time sounds good! Ah, that was sarcasm wasn't it?

But yes, I would think those are the apparent options. Might as well continue to talk to her until something happens. And the other option can always be a plan B... or Z.

>Dialogue

Raven: "What jail would take her? This isn't exactly claimed territory, and I do still feel pretty bad for her in spite of everything. Hm."

Lucy: "T-they wouldn't? ..."

Rip: "I guess is true."

Rip starts to push the door open without making it budge. Realizing Lucy wasn't exaggerating, he puts more effort into it and the door starts to open slowly.

Raven: "...anyone want to form an adventuring party?"

Emerald: "Ooo, Me! Me! Me! I can totally help you guys if I was untied!"

Lucy: "Q-quiet, witch!... I was just gonna turn the witch in, but even then, I wouldn't have known what I would have done afterward. I guess now I don't have anything to do, so I c-could try."

Rip: "Mghrraah!"

Rip has opened the door.

Rip: "I travel alone. Easy to avoid trouble... Usually."

Honestly I would love to have you along for a adventuring party Emerald. If we could trust you.

Y'know, I was (and still am) on the side that she's too far gone to rehabilitate, but if we do form an adventuring party (with or without Rip) Emerald would make an excellent Token Evil Teammate. We just have to make sure that we have some way of reigning her in. Rip can take care of himself, but Emerald and Lucy will definitely need our supervision, going on adventures together sounds like an excellent way to do that.

Right now we still have the worry that if we let Emerald go, she might betray us and go back to summoning demons to kill everyone. If she wants to prove she won't do that, maybe she can start by telling us how to undo the her preparations and destroy or at least block access to the portal and the documents describing how to use it. Because if she is really willing to give up on murdering everyone she won't need those anymore, right?

>>715232
em i'd be glad to but we still need insurance first. anyone got ideas there? some kind of oath magic or something?

JiggyDino 2016/04/10(Sun)10:55 No. 715501 ID: b66b01
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>Dialogue

Raven: "Honestly I would love to have you along for a adventuring party Emerald. If we could trust you."

Emerald: "Whaaaat? You can totally trust me! We're friends remember?!"

>If she wants to prove she won't do that, maybe she can start by telling us how to undo the her preparations and destroy or at least block access to the portal and the documents describing how to use it.

Raven: "So that means you'll tell us how to destroy or block access to the portal and the documents describing how to use it?"

Emerald: "Eh- Wait wait, let's not do anything we will regret here. There's no need to do that!"

>Dialogue

Raven: "Because if you are really willing to give up on murdering everyone, you won't need those anymore, right?"

Emerald: "..."

Emerald: "I miiiight..."

Emerald sees that no one's happy about her answer.

Emerald: "Oh come on! How do you expect me to give up on something I've work on for the last 5 or so years?!"

JiggyDino 2016/04/10(Sun)10:55 No. 715502 ID: b66b01
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Lucy: "Lizard. Can you grab the witch?"

Rip: "Sure. Name is Rip by the way."

Lucy: "Huh, yeah. Mine is Lucy."

Lucy hands Emerald to Rip who hoist's her up the level above. Lucy then steps aside to let me climb first, so I do.

>>715502
so hows lucy getting up?

>>715552
She is probably gonna climb up one handed with her axe in tow. She just couldn't go up the ladder with both hands full.

Stick together with Lucy in watching over Emerald while you guys gather up supplies, you can keep chatting while having an extra pair of eyes on her. You might need to make some sheets into wraps for Lucy to help protect her from the sun and sand while you guys travel the desert.
Rip also sounds like he needs more convincing if we want him to join us. Ask him about what he plans to do next after getting out of the desert.

JiggyDino 2016/04/10(Sun)15:20 No. 715600 ID: b66b01
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>so hows lucy getting up?
>She is probably gonna climb up one handed with her axe in tow. She just couldn't go up the ladder with both hands full.

I would think that is right.


We're now at the tower's entrance.

Raven: "Alright. Before we try and cross the desert, we'll need food, water and rest a bit before we go."

Lucy: "We can get water under the mountain. For food, there's a room in one of the hallways. I can gather those."

Rip: "I have to get my gear from the mountain."

Lucy: "It's in the drawer in my room."

>Stick together with Lucy in watching over Emerald while you guys gather up supplies, you can keep chatting while having an extra pair of eyes on her.

Raven: "I guess we're all going to the mountain!"

>Rip also sounds like he needs more convincing if we want him to join us. Ask him about what he plans to do next after getting out of the desert.

Raven: "By the way, Rip, what are you planning to do once we get out of the desert?"

Rip: "Might wander. But most likely maybe take break."

Disthread: http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/99036.html[/spoiler]

http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/99036.html

I think that one way or another we should do what we can to destroy Emerald's portal research and preparations before we go. Even if not Emerald, someone will eventually find that stuff if we leave it just lying around.
(And I don't think we should say it in front of Emerald, but when she won't tell us how to disable the portal prep she is obviously lying about not wanting to kill us. I don't see how we would ever be able to trust her, so I am not leaning towards killing her. Leaving her un-watched is a super bad idea, but maybe we can have Rip watch her for a bit while we discuss this with Lucy out of her earshot.)

Well, if we can't put Emerald in jail... are there any insane asylums?

What are the Local Regions surrounding the desert like? Does Rip have a map with his gear or a particular destination in mind?
If possible you or Rip should explore behind the fallen rocks in the mountain tunnel.

JiggyDino 2016/04/11(Mon)16:54 No. 715895 ID: b66b01
File 146041889753.gif - (29.32KB , 800x600 , 198.gif )

We start making our way towards the mountain.

JiggyDino 2016/04/11(Mon)16:55 No. 715896 ID: b66b01
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>Well, if we can't put Emerald in jail... are there any insane asylums?

Is this some kind of other jail?

>What are the Local Regions surrounding the desert like?

I'm not sure about all directions since it's the first time I've been in this desert. But South of here, where I arrived here from, are forests and fields after some barren flatlands. There's a couple of villages, towns and cities. Most important one would be Khane.

>Does Rip have a map with his gear or a particular destination in mind?

Raven: "Rip, does your gear include a map?"

Rip: "No. I mostly just have sneaking clothes. Some throwing knives, lockpicks, canteen..."

Raven: "Were you heading anywhere in particular?"

Rip: "Depend. If I take break, I may go back to village. Or Smoothcrest. Otherwise, I do not know."

If my navigational skills are correct, the closest outskirt from here would be somewhere north-east-east from here. That's where I would head if I was trying to leave the desert. I know there are some small villages near the outskirts, but I'll admit that I didn't really memorized where they were. Part of being an adventurer is exploring at your own leisure. You could use a map and just follow it everywhere, but most adventurers prefer not doing that. Which explains Rip's lack of map or destination if he decides to continue his travels.

>>715896
Mountains then? Man it occurs to me nobody here knows where they are, we're super fucked.

An insane asylum, as in, a mental hospital. With means of restraining dangerous patients.

JiggyDino 2016/04/13(Wed)16:06 No. 716308 ID: b66b01
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Awkward Transtion!

Yes. Transtion. I misspelled it and by the time I noticed, I couldn't bother fixing it. This thread is getting long so instead of having an ending for the next part, I'm just gonna cut it here.

Go here for part 2: http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/res/716306.html